Kai Villalvazo’s Nemesis (The Kalon Tetralogy #1)

Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

D. U. I — DANIEL DI ANGELO ?? CODE RED — DARCI

?? KAI ??

A t as early as 4:00 a.m., I was walking down the slopes to do some snowboarding.

I had learnt so many skills over the past year and I needed to make sure that I polished them for this season.

I had to. I had no choice. My back had had enough punishment for every little failure.

Sometimes, it wasn't my fault. But they didn't give a shit. I was always on the receiving end of their wrath.

The pain kept me up on most nights, the intense thirst for revenge kept me silent and formless. I was going to strike when they least expected it, but for now, I had to deal with it.

Just a few more months to go. I was almost there. It was too soon to give up.

I got to the illuminated snowboarding area and I was surprised to find the dim light of the equipment room on. Who else could be up at this ungodly hour?

The snow crunched under my designer boots as I courageously made my way to the mini house. Despite it mainly being an equipment room, there was a massive table and chairs with cushions, an electric fireplace, and a small kitchen with preserved foods and snacks.

This is where Coach took the register then gave us our pep talk before practice, and where most of the card games took place.

My heart skipped a couple of beats when I noticed the dark mane of silky hair inside. A smile threatened to tug at my lips, and since no one could see me, I let it happen.

My goddess.

She was studying. Of course, she was, we had a test tomorrow. She always worked twice as hard.

I admired her for a little while, taking in all the little details. The cute pout she made whenever she was thinking too hard, the furrow of her brows when she was reading, and the sparkle in her eyes whenever she figured it out.

She was a captivating enigma that my soul craved to navigate, a beauty with crevices that my darkness wished to lick. She was everything I couldn't be, and everything I wanted to both devour and destroy.

Without thinking, I opened the glass door and she looked up immediately. Our eyes met and I seemed to lose my bearing for a hot minute when her venomous gaze cruised down my physique.

I noticed the way her dark pupils narrowed until her eyes resembled those of a poisonous viper. And if I was being honest, dying at the hands of her venom was far more enticing than any other alternative the universe had laid out for me.

I nonchalantly moved to the table, and with one pivot of my head, we were face to face again. She was so fucking breathtaking; I felt my heart race as her viper green eyes narrowed in irritation.

This never happened. Something was in the air again and I was going to fight it fair and square. I'd wrestled mortality all my life, and I'd do the same with whatever this was.

"Go away," was all her soothingly seductive voice said before she returned her attention to her books.

Her handwriting was so pretty: calligraphic and thin. I'd have her tattoo my body any day.

"In case you didn't realise, kücük tavsan , this is a public space," I threw her words back at her, but if it bothered her, she didn't show it.

After a couple of moments, I sat down and watched her study. Hmm. She was getting anxious. Very, very anxious. Her letters swooped higher than usual, her writing got a bit sloppy and her hand trembled slightly.

Sexy.

"Don't you have something better to do, Vazalo?" she finally snapped, and as if my body had been ignited, the intrigue came to life like a wildfire.

She sucked her teeth when I didn't respond, then shut the thick econometrics textbook she had been referring to. I didn't have to study. I knew the entire book like the back of my hand.

That's what happened when someone got locked up like a wild animal. They had plenty of time on their hands to exercise their brain.

I wasn’t claiming to be normal in any sort of way. I wasn’t. I never would be.

“How did you do it?” The question I had been anticipating finally came and I smirked inwardly.

“Do what?” I pretended to be oblivious as more annoyance marred her features. She had already compromised her pride to ask me this question, and I wanted to stretch her further.

“The Backside Quad you did yesterday. I’ve been attempting for months,” she mumbled as though speaking the last part to herself, but I obviously heard that.

“I just did. It's natural.” I shrugged, leaning back in my seat as my intense gaze settled on her again.

She seemed to be regretting the question with the glare she sent me, but I thrived on that. Her agitation, irritation…everything. I wanted to wring out every emotion possible out of her.

“There’s no such thing as natural in snowboarding,” she protested, her cute little pout making me bite my lip unconsciously.

I'll be damned if I never get to ruin those sweet lips. Fuck yes, I wanted to reduce her to nothingness.

“There’s a first time for everything.” I leaned forward, instantly getting a whiff of her rich, saturated fragrance—something that ranged between powdery ylang ylang to dark berry oud and amber. I could never miss her fragrance; I revelled in it.

It was so different from the scents of my previous targets who usually had cheap fragrances on.

She scoffed at my statement, but I easily took note of the goosebumps that were forming along her neck, despite her layers and insulating jacket.

“Or perhaps, I'm just better than you,” I provoked further, and as usual, she barely reacted. Instead, she leaned forward, meeting my unnerving gaze like a pro.

People never did that; they never looked me in the eye but her—she was so bold and daring.

“Why don’t we prove that on the slopes? One race, one winner…one loser,” she whispered against my lips and like a slow chemical reaction, adrenaline coursed through my veins in anticipation.

I didn’t respond. Instead, I gave her a hot wink that brightened her cheeks within milliseconds. This was going to be so much fucking fun. A month into this snowboarding season shit and I was making progress.

“What's the reward?”

“The loser gets to do whatever the winner says, no negotiations.”

This girl was digging up her own grave and she had no idea. Humans went to great lengths to prove themselves, unaware of the consequences that lay ahead in the event of defeat.

But I was bored, and she was determined.

So why the fuck not?

As if we were using telepathy, we both grabbed our boards and bindings then headed to the marked trails.

She didn’t bother with the short trail, instead, going for the longer one with more obstacles and ramps. Hmm, a daredevil, I see…

She was definitely biting off more than she would be able to chew.

We both took our time to set up for the race. I slipped on my large shield glasses to protect my face from flying debris and snow, a mask to cover the rest of my face from the cold, then my helmet. I was secured to my board and now I was patiently waiting for Yasmina.

Once she was through, we stood behind the starting line and the sensors turned the billboard-like screen on. When it began to navigate and synchronise the map to our shield glasses, it started a countdown from ten.

Yasmina wasn’t looking at me, but I could see from her posture that she was ready to kick my ass.

When it reflected ‘go’, Yasmina was the first to speed down the slope. I calmly followed behind, swerving and floating over the snow.

My board was the most dangerous to use considering its hard flex. It was necessary for ultimate speed and aggression, but it also required a lot of focus and quick reaction because the loss of control was unforgiving.

I'd be scarred for life. That was nothing new.

I picked up speed as I effortlessly drifted past the obstacles, maintaining a reasonable distance from Yasmina. The map reflected before me for five seconds every time I was on a clear, safe trail. We had covered quite a lot of ground, especially Yasmina.

She truly amused me beyond measure.

I watched as she skilfully flew off the ramp, performing a simple double-handed grab before landing and speeding further down the trail.

I got to the same ramp and stuck to my usual corkscrew, the rotation brief and rapid before I made it back down. We were snowboarding in some serious crud so we had to be extra careful with the turns.

However, Yasmina clearly knew what she was doing.

She’s been snowboarding for over ten years now.

I could deal with it. Two years of training was enough for me to get my bearings on the trickiest parts of this sport.

I made a lot of cruiser runs till we got to the final trail, where I decided to finally exert all my energy.

Towards the end, I executed an effortless Caballerial where I started by riding switch, before I did a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree spin. I landed in the original position and crossed the finishing line before her by a few milliseconds.

I swerved to a halt, the snow crunching upon the impact. She did, too, and we were slightly breathless as we removed the glasses.

We glared at each other for a hot minute before I loosened my bindings and walked towards her with a smug expression.

“Looks like I’m still better than you, kücük tavsan .” The clouds of condensation left my lips with each breath, and while hers were partly aggressive, mine were calm and subtle.

“Fuck you,” she said breathlessly. I only tilted my head, aware that the brightness of my heterochromatic eyes was getting worse.

“I didn’t think you were that kinky, but we can make it work in this snow?—”

“Scratch that. You're a pain in the fucking ass.” She frowned deeply, but I couldn’t care less.

“Common knowledge.” I shrugged nonchalantly before my eyes blazed further with interest. I could smell the inhibited fear behind her glare and it fucking turned me on. “Now, about our deal.”

“What do you want?” She hardly had any emotion on her features, but that soon changed when my gloved hand slipped around her delicate neck with enough measured pressure to silence her.

Of course, she knew better than to resist my touch. It wouldn’t end well.

“You didn’t flight or fight when I gave you the chance, kücük tavsan .” I stared down at her, my features dark with so many undecipherable emotions that she wouldn’t pick up on my malicious intentions, or my intense desire for her. “So, we’re going to do this the winner’s way…my way.”

Her throat contracted under my grip and I could feel the excitement flooding my body upon the action. Her lips were slightly parted in astonishment, her nose flared in indignation and her eyes curious about my next move. I had the strong urge to bite her pretty lips until they bled, to cause her so much unbearable pain that would make her hate me more.

After some minutes of openly admiring my prey, I finally spoke. “I want you to kiss the hottest guy in this place. Tongue. To. Tongue.” Each vowel was coated in acid and my desire spiked when an involuntary gasp elicited from her lips.

Of course, I hadn’t gotten past the Callum incident. He’s lucky he's not dead.

Don didn’t get a similar fate, though. Guess he was unlucky enough that I was in a bad mood and pulled the plug in the ICU.

I was out of my fucking mind.

It was borderline madness. Madness in the way I closed the gap between us. Madness in the way the tip of my tongue darted out to lick across her bottom lip, eager to get a taste of her.

Her own tongue rolled over the same lip, tracing the trail that I had shamelessly left.

Holy. Fuck.

My cock twitched when she let out a slow breath that lingered on the surface of my tongue, the peril of this moment was something my brain refused to consider.

This kiss would cost me my entire life and derail my plans if I wasn’t cautious. And what amused me was my willingness to forget the consequences for a simple tongue-to-tongue with the goddess before me. The conditions of the contract were simple: don’t kiss her. Don’t taste her. Don’t fuck her.

But it was just too fucking late for that.

I was so close, so close. Just one taste of her wouldn’t hurt?—

It took me a minute to realise that she had created more distance between us and we were no longer alone. Kayden, Yelena, Ethan, and Coach were here now. Yasmina only smirked before stepping further away, her viper green eyes non-assuming and seductive.

“Better luck next time, Vazalo.”